Medium Size Business

I am often asked what types of jobs/clients are best suited for Disability Advocacy Services (DAS). The simple answer is anyone who does not currently have, cannot afford, or be underwritten for an LTD policy. This happens to be almost 70% of the working American population! DAS is currently being sold to a wide range of occupations and the following are just a few of those utilizing the service:

Teachers

Unions

Maintenance personnel

Nurses

Pipefitters

Electrical workers

Roofers

Auto mechanics

Insurance agents

Ground crews

Tool and Die

Police

Fire

EMS technicians

Office workers

Dental hygienists

Auto dealerships

HVAC workers

Social workers

Child care workers

Veterinarians

Optometrists

Road workers

Home health care workers

The list goes on and on! DAS for these clients assures them that if something happens to them and they can no longer work due to an illness or injury, they will get their government benefits without having to go it alone.

Last time we talked about the second part of word of mouth tactics to help you put together a system to shorten the purchasing decision time of your customers, which can increase your profits immensely.

Today we’re going to talk about the nine levels of word of mouth, giving you a tool to measure the word of mouth circulating around your company, products and services. You can then see where you are getting negative or weak word of mouth and find ways to correct it.

So, launching into the nine levels of word of mouth – it should seem relatively obvious that the negative levels are, well, negative and the positive levels are positive.

Minus 4

This is the worst of the worst and means your product is creating a scandal. Remember when the popular over-the-counter pain relievers, like Tylenol, were deemed unsafe? Yeah, you won’t want that kind of word of mouth.

Minus 3

Disgruntled customers are going out of their way to keep other consumers from purchasing your products and services. They are boycotting you.

Minus 2

While not outwardly boycotting, when customers are asked about you they will give a negative response.

Minus 1

At this level, people are mildly dissatisfied and while not outwardly talking about it, they will have an opinion if asked. Now, they may still purchase from you despite their negative feelings, which can be a little confusing.

Level 0

This is sort of a neutral place to be. Customers are using your products, but don’t really talk about it. People rarely ask them about it, so they aren’t sharing their opinion with others. This can be a bit of a slippery slope, because you don’t want to turn that neutral experience into a negative one. In fact, you should work to make it a positive one.

Plus 1

At this level we are finally starting to work our way into the positive word of mouth about your company, products and services. Plus 1 signifies that people are generally pleased with your products, but unless asked, don’t really say anything about them.

Plus 2

When asked, your customers will talk about how much they love your products.

Plus 3

Customers will go out of their way to talk about your products, services, company and their shopping experience with you. This is most evident when you see how people recommend movies to their friends and family.

Plus 4

Your product is the toast of the town. There is an obvious buzz going around and your business is the place to be. People are not only talking about your great products and services, but they are talking about their shopping experience, your customer service and how they perceive the company to help them in the future.

Some great examples of Plus 4 companies are:

Nordstrom

Coca Cola

Apple

Audi

FedEx

Tesla

We’re going to leave this lesson for you to mull over and take a look at what kind of word of mouth you are generating. If you need help with this process, reach out to us!

Next time we’re going to talk about the 30 ways to harness the power of word of mouth.

The biggest area of turn-key businesses is franchises. There is a franchise for every industry in the world. They are fairly easy to acquire and come with practically a pop-out-of-the-box, pre-assembled system. McDonald’s is a prime example. In fact, a $40 billion, 28,707 franchise strong example.

There are a few things we are going to talk about:

Business Format Franchise

The Franchise Prototype

Franchise Prototype Standards

Business Format Franchise

The business format franchise came from an earlier model called the “trade name” franchise. The big change was in the rights. During the “trade name” days, the franchise owner only had marketing rights, now franchise owners have owning rights to the entire business including systems. This has allowed for a shift in focus to go from the quality and name recognition of the products carrying the business to sales techniques that carry the business.

The Franchise Prototype

It was really the franchise prototypes that allowed for the changes to be made that help today’s franchises really shine with the techniques developed by the owners instead of the corporation. This can make a significant difference in the success of the franchise as the owner can custom tailor their marketing and promotions to the direct needs of their local target customers.

Franchise Prototype Standards

Now, the above being said, no one in their right mind would purchase a franchise if the parent company didn’t have a solid plan of action set up to ensure the prospective success of the business. So, there are a few standards that are put into place that help jump-start the process of opening a successful franchise.

They must build a model of prospective customers/clients, suppliers, creditors and employees who will consistently offer high quality work.

Build a user-friendly model that can be used by individuals of any skill set.

Build a defect-free model.

Build a model with an Operations Manuals.

Build a model that will provide guaranteed, consistent results.

Build a model that encompasses the same branding in color, dress and facilities codes.

These are all ways the parent corporation makes sure their brand stays the same and in the front of the minds of customers. When you are purchasing a widely-known brand, you will attract customers just for being you.

If you are considering purchasing a franchise, talk with one of our experienced business coaches during our FREE test drive.

Today, I’m going to talk about the life cycle of a business and how to get the most out of each cycle while also extending the lifespan of your business.

The four different stages of a business life cycle are:

Infancy

Adolescence

Growing Pains

Maturity

We’ll talk a little about what each of these cycles means and how they can each help expand your business’s lifespan.

Infancy

This is generally considered the technician’s phase, which is the owner. At this point, the relationship between the business and the owner is that of a parent and new baby. There is an impenetrable bond that is necessary to determine the path your business will follow.

The key is to know your business must grow in order to flourish. You cannot stay in this stage forever.

Adolescence

In this stage you need to start bringing your support staff together to delegate to and allow growth to happen. The first line of defense is your technical person, as they need to bring a certain level of technical experience. This cycle really belongs to the manager though. The plan stage needs to start and a relationship should be built with the entrepreneur to plan for the future.

Growing Pains

There’s a point in every business when business explodes and becomes chaotic. This is referred to as growing pains. It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. You are often faced with a number of choices:

Avoid growth and stay small

Go broke

Push forward into the next cycle

Maturity

The last cycle is maturity, though this doesn’t mean the end of your business. Your passion for growth must continue in order for your business to succeed. You need to keep an entrepreneurial perspective in order to push your business forward.

You see how all three of these cycles are connected and depend on a strong foundation for each one of them for your business to be and continue to be successful. All three of your key roles must also work together to work through these cycles.

If you’re having trouble putting together your business life cycles and figuring out which of the key roles you fit into, try our FREE test drive and work with one of our amazing coaches.

Today we’ll take a look at how the kings of industry wine, dine and otherwise cajole prospects.

Most of successful professionals use a series of information based ads that build emotion and a call to action. These are much more effective than a standard company branding advertisements. The same principles that go into putting together a high impact (and, often, high priced) ad campaign can be adapted to fit your needs with similar results.

Here are some ways to put together and execute a professional, effective ad campaign:

Put together a short report that you’ll automatically send to prospects when they contact you. This should include a short description of your business and what you specialize in. Don’t forget to include case studies, samples or other proof of your success.

Develop value-oriented ads.

Consider newsletters as a way of educating and informing customers about your industry and services offered.

Offer a free seminar, webinar or other lecture to build awareness of your business, but make sure you make the information pertinent to your target market and find speakers who are respected and known in the industry.

Buy an existing business, introduce better marketing and grow this new business faster than a “from scratch” business.

Always test different versions of your ads to find the most effective ones.

Use direct mail marketing to grow your business.

Put together a database of previous customers and send them new information.

Approach large firms who may need your services and negotiate a deal to be their exclusive expert in your field.

Offer a 24-hour information line with a regularly updated recorded message. Make this available to all past and future customers/clients.

Donate time or materials to local charities to show support in your area.

Offer public clinics for the general public to come along and discuss what they need that’s free and approachable.

Organize seminars your customers/clients can pay to attend by putting together a high-perception value package.

Approach local newspaper by offering to write a weekly column about your area of expertise. Don’t ask for money, just a byline and bio.

Develop a weekend or other destination seminar for customers/clients, not only does this give you an action-packed weekend with the most important people, it gives them a tax-deductible business adventure.

Take a good seminar and turn it into written form as a home study, member site program, audio or video program.

Approach large companies and offer to give seminars to their employees, investors or management.

Be proactive with your marketing plan.

Barter for your marketing. Offer products or services in lieu of payment.

Be willing to bring in new clients, even if at an initial loss because it will likely pay off later.

Regulate your marketing budget to maximize the potential income from them to hit the next year and try to push back advertising costs for the next year to offset your expenses.

Make offers to target markets or target market businesses to pay them for referrals or shared databases.

Give away something free to everyone who brings in a print version of your advertisement. This is a great way to see which ads are giving you the most bang for your buck.

Continually consider what new products/services you can offer to current customers/clients.

Develop a mail order division of your company.

Offer a proposition to your competitors to trade customers/clients you were both unsuccessful in selling to.

Use different marketing tactics as an excuse to attract new customers/clients with new offers and goodies.

Offer a “you-choose-the-price” program. This is especially good for product you just can’t seem to sell.

So, there are 30 great ways to market to other professional and businesses. Some other great ways to get your name out there for little or no cost are:

Get involved you in your community-volunteer, donate to local events, etc.

Join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend the networking and other activities throughout the year.

Join a local, state or regional professional associates for further networking opportunities.

Become a board member of a local organization.

Advertising should never be your only method of marketing, there are a myriad of ways to get your name out there in a way that feels personal to potential customers/clients.

“Effective advertising…must be used to get your name out to the public. If your name is not familiar to people, they will not come to you.” Jay Abraham

If you’re not sure where you start with your marketing plan or how to reach out to your local community, competitors, customers/clients and others who could influence your business in a highly positive way, try our FREE test drive to experience the tools and resources we have to boost your business to the next level and beyond.

There are three key areas of public relations you can use to boost your advertising results ten-fold over your paid advertising.

The key to public relations lie in:

Public relation or publicity

Merchandising

Promotions

With a solid plan in place that encompasses all these areas, you’ll have a great approach to use public relations in the best way possible.

Public relations include all that is the media. Don’t limit yourself. The attention of newspapers, television, radio, magazines, bloggers, ezines and more are all equally powerful. Online marketing is just as, if not more, important as conventional media.

Here are the steps to get noticed by the media:

Put together a press release for your company. The press release should be relevant to your target market and address consumer interest, not just announce your business.

Compact your press release to include one hook and one angle. Choose the most attention-getting to make sure the media person you are sending it to is interested in reading it.

Put your press release in professional formatting. With press releases you need a dateline, the most important information at the top, facts, figures and wrap it up with contact details including who and how. Print the press release on your letterhead.

Send your press release to all television and radio stations, local and metro newspapers, national newspapers, industry magazines, and any other form of media that reaches your target market. Don’t forgot to include relevant blogs, ezines, press release submission sites and to industry professionals.

More importantly than a perfect press release is to make sure you have addressed the needs of your target market in the products/services you offer and made that clear in the press release. If you provide people a solution to a problem, a way to avoid a problem and an opportunity to enhance their life the media and public will be interested.

If you have a connection (or the ability to get a connection) with a celebrity, this can practically guarantee you’ll get attention. Make sure you are offering newsworthy information, and then follow up with media outlets to make sure they are publicizing that information.

“One of the most powerful techniques every business should use is free publicity. As the name implies, there is no cost, just the time and effort required to attract attention to your business.” Jay Abraham

Our FREE test drive can show you how to put together press releases that work! Check out how the pro’s do it and craft the perfect press releases for your business.